9.916
Attribution and Theory of Mind
Today’s Lecture
Other’s actions are more than spatiotemporal patterns;
they reflect, and predict, internal states
How do people infer the causes of others’ actions?
Social Psychology:
Attribution Theory
Developmental Psychology:
Theory of Mind
Action
Stable
Transient
Attribution Theory
Action
Common method:
Something about
the person?
the situation?
Stable
Kelley’s ANOVA
model:
External
Internal
Situation
Object
consistency
distinctiveness
consensus
“Jon laughs at the comic tonight.”
Does everyone laugh at the comic?
Does Jon laugh at all comics?
Does Jon always laugh at this comic?
Attribution Theory
Action
Stable
External
Common method:
Something about
the person?
the situation?
Internal
Phenomena:
Situation Neglect
a.k.a. Insufficient Discounting, Fundamental Attribution Error
Actor-Observer Asymmetries
own failures attributed to external causes
Attribution Theory
Action
Stable
External
Common method:
Something about
the person?
the situation?
Internal
Flaws:
Assumes lots of data
“External” causes:
“Jon went on vacation to the Carribean
because the weather is hot there.”
Hot weather = external cause
“... but Jon didn’t know it was hot.”
“... but the weather was terrible that week.”
Theory of Mind
Action
Stable
Premack’s
“Theory of Mind”
Transient
Intention
Belief
Ability
Desire
Sarah:
Action prediction
Figures removed due to copyright restrictions.
Theory of Mind
The Sally-Anne problem
100
Chance
50
Figures removed due to copyright restrictions.
25
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
Percent using false belief
75
0
Age (years)
Canada
Action prediction based on false
belief is different from the
prediction based on reality.
(Wimmer & Perner 1983,Wellman, Cross and Watson 2001)
Samoa
India
Peru
Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.
& African pygmy hunter gatherers
(Avis & Harris 1999, Callaghan et al 2005)
Theory of Mind
- Location transfer
- False contents
- 3rd P
- 1st P past
- Prediction
- Explanation
False Belief
Figures removed due to copyright restrictions.
False Photo
5
4
3
Belief
Photo
2
1
Austism
Typical
0
Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.
(Wellman et al 2001,Atance & O’Neill 2004, Zaitchik 1990, Leslie and Thaiss 1992)
Theory of Mind
Neural mechanism
Susie parked her sports car in the
driveway. In the middle of the
night. Nathan moved her car into
the garage to make room for his
minivan. Susie woke up early in
the morning.
Figure removed due to copyright restrictions.
She expects to see in the drive
a sportscar
a minivan
A volcano erupted on this
Caribbean island three months ago.
Barren lava rock is all that remains.
Satellite photos show the island as
it was before the eruption.
In the photos the island is covered
in
rock
vegetation
(Saxe and Kanwisher 2003, Saxe 2006, etc)
Theory of Mind
Neural mechanism
Belief > Photo
Susie parked her sports car in the
driveway. In the middle of the
night. Nathan moved her car into
the garage to make room for his
minivan. Susie woke up early in
the morning.
Individual subjects
She expects to see in the drive
a sportscar
a minivan
A volcano erupted on this
Caribbean island three months ago.
Barren lava rock is all that remains.
Satellite photos show the island as
it was before the eruption.
In the photos the island is covered
in
rock
vegetation
Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.
Theory of Mind
Neural mechanism
Reality Known
Task: Predict where the girl will look.
Results
Figure removed due to copyright restrictions.
Lesions in
(1) left lateral frontal
(2) left TPJ
12
9
6
3
TP
Frontal
FB
Control
0
Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.
(Samson et al 2004, Samson et al 2005)
Theory of Mind
Neural mechanism
Reality Unknown
Task: Indicate where the object is.
Results
Lesions in
(1) left lateral frontal
Figure removed due to copyright restrictions.
(2) left TPJ
12
9
6
3
TP
Frontal
FB
Control
0
Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.
(Samson et al 2004, Samson et al 2005)
Theory of Mind
Development
False Belief understanding isn’t “having” a Theory of Mind
Theory of Mind
Development
(1) Diverse Desires
Which one will the
girl choose?
Theory of Mind
Development
(1) Diverse Desires
(2) Diverse Beliefs
Where will the girl look
for the dog?
Theory of Mind
Development
(1) Diverse Desires
(2) Diverse Beliefs
(3) Access/Ignorance
Does the girl know
what’s in the drawer?
Theory of Mind
Development
(1) Diverse Desires
(2) Diverse Beliefs
(3) Access/Ignorance
(4) False Belief
What does the boy think
is in the box?
Theory of Mind
Development
(1) Diverse Desires
(2) Diverse Beliefs
(3) Access/Ignorance
(4) False Belief
(5) Hidden Emotion
How does the boy really
feel?
Theory of Mind
Development
(1) Diverse Desires (2) Diverse Beliefs
(3) Access/Ignorance (4) False Belief
(5) Hidden Emotion
60/75 Kids: 80%
Replicated longitudinally
3 Years
4 Years
5 Years
15
12
9
6
3
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4
1,2,3
1,2
1
None
0
Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.
Wellman, Liu (2004)
Theory of Mind
Non-human primates
Figures removed due to copyright restrictions.
Competitive
Not
Cooperative
Santos, Flombaum (IP)
Origins of False Belief understanding
MIT OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu
9.916 Special Topics: Social Animals
Fall 2009
For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: http://ocw.mit.edu/terms.